Law Commons^™

Are Police Free To Disregard Miranda?, Steven D. Clymer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

What Is A Search? Two Conceptual Flaws In Fourth Amendment Doctine And Some Hints Of A Remedy, Sherry F. Colb

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tailored Police Testimony At Suppression Hearings, Joel Atlas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Whether a court must suppress evidence typically turns on the conduct or observations of the police officer who discovered the evidence. By falsely testifying to the facts surrounding the discovery of the evidence, a police officer may validate a blatantly unconstitutional search. New York courts have long recognized that police officers sometimes fabricate suppression testimony to meet constitutional restrictions. Indeed, the Appellate Division has rejected police testimony at suppression hearings where the officer’s testimony appears to have been “patently tailored to nullify constitutional objections.” Although, to be sure, rejections are rare and their number appears to be declining, the appellate …

The Problem Of The Expert Juror., Paul F. Kirgis

Faculty Law Review Articles

In this article, I argue that the new focus on the risks of spurious "expertise" compels attention to the problem of juror expertise. 24 Specialized knowledge poses the same risks to the truth-seeking objectives of trial whether it enters the decision-making process through expert testimony or through the back door of juror background knowledge. In fact, the risks to accuracy may be less when expertise is offered by a witness than when it is introduced by a juror, because the witness will be subject to cross-examination and rebuttal. Flawed expertise brought to the case by a juror is not subject …

Convictions Of Innocent Persons In Massachusetts: An Overview, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars documenting the incidence and causes of wrongful convictions in the United States have focused on cases arising all across the country. Because reform of the practices that lead to such errors of justice must largely take place on the state level, there is value in examining wrongful convictions in particular jurisdictions. This article attempts to identify and briefly describe all known cases of conviction of innocent persons in Massachusetts from 1800 to the present time. Part I discusses the criteria for identifying "the innocent." For the purpose of gaining support for needed reforms in the law, the most persuasive …

Section 1: Lockyer V. Andrade, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Section 8: Criminal Law & Procedure, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Non-Citizen Offenders And Immigration Crimes: New Challenges In The Federal System, Nora V. Demleitner, Jon M. Sands

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

The Preparatory Commission For The International Criminal Court, Valerie Oosterveld

Law Publications

As it becomes increasingly clear that the International Criminal Court will be set up in the near future, it is important to reflect on the work of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court. When the Rome Statute was being negotiated, it became very clear that additional documents would be necessary in order to create a fully functioning ICC. At the time, eight such documents were identified and included in Resolution F of the Final Act of the Rome Diplomatic conference. As work on these documents nears completion, States have begun to consider the practicalities of setting up the …

Juries, Drug Laws & Sentencing (Symposium), Nancy S. Marder

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Accuracy Where It Matters: Brady V. Maryland In The Plea Bargaining Context, Corinna Barrett Lain

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Lain argues that the role of Brady v. Maryland in protecting the innocent from wrongful conviction is just as essential in the plea bargaining context as it is at trial, and that therefore even defendants who plead guilty should be entitled to Brady's protections. However, she concludes that Brady's application in the plea bargaining context is destined to provide only a shadow of the protection Brady provides at trial because of the materiality standard currently used to judge post-plea Brady claims. In making both points, she employs a model of the plea bargaining defendant's decision-making process, using modern choice …

Miranda's Final Frontier - The International Arena: A Critical Analysis Of U.S. V. Bin Laden, And A Proposal For A New Miranda Exception Abroad, Mark A. Godsey

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In recent years, the FBI and other federal law agencies have greatly expanded their presence abroad, investigating everything from narcotics trade and internet fraud schemes to terrorism. This trend will undoubtedly continue in the aftermath of September 11th. A constitutional question that will be of increasing importance in this context is whether, or to what extent, U.S. law enforcement officials (hereinafter "FBI") must provide Miranda warnings to non-U.S. citizens interrogated abroad who will later be tried in the United States.

The article first addresses whether future modifications to the Miranda doctrine are permissible after Dickerson. The article concludes that despite …

The Impossible Dream Come True: A Criminal Law Professor Becomes Juror #7, Stacy Caplow

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Quiet Rebellion Ii: An Empirical Analysis Of Declining Federal Drug Sentences Including Data From The District Level, Frank O. Bowman, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This is the second of two articles in which we seek an explanation for the hitherto unexamined fact that the average length of prison sentences imposed in federal court for narcotics violations declined by more than 15% between 1991-92 and 2000.

Our first article, Quiet Rebellion? Explaining Nearly a Decade of Declining Federal Drug Sentences, 86 Iowa Law Review 1043 (May 2001) ( "Rebellion I" ), examined national sentencing data in an effort to determine whether the decline in federal drug sentences is real (rather than a statistical anomaly), and to identify and analyze possible causes of the decline. We …

Justice By The Numbers: The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Four-Or Is It Five?, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION:In the early hours of April 14, 2000, Robert Lee Tarver died in Alabama's electric chair, even though four Justices of the United States Supreme Court had voted to review the merits of his case. This situation is not unique. Each year, practitioners and pro se litigants alike petition the Supreme Court without fully knowing the rules pursuant to which the Court will decide their client's, or their own, fate. The reason is that the Supreme Court operates under two sets of rules-those that are published and those that are not. The former specify This Article is based on a …

Twenty-Five Years Of Death: A Report Of The Cornell Death Penalty Project On The "Modern" Era Of Capital Punishment In South Carolina, John H. Blume

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In 1972, the United States Supreme Court determined that the death penalty, as then administered in this country, violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Many states, including South Carolina, scurried to enact new, "improved" capital punishment statutes which would satisfy the Supreme Court's rather vague mandate. In 1976, the High Court approved some of the new laws, and the American death penalty was back in business. After a wrong turn or two, including a statutory scheme which did not pass constitutional muster, the South Carolina General Assembly passed the current death penalty statute in 1977. The …

The Scottsboro Trials: A Legal Lynching, Faust Rossi

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Random Vs. Suspicion-Based Drug Testing In The Public Schools -- A Surprising Civil Liberties Dilemma, Martin H. Belsky

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The Tecumseh School District had a policy that all students who wished to participate in extracurricular activities that involved some sort of competition had to agree to drug testing before the competition and then randomly thereafter. ... Those selected for accusatory drug testing might be perceived to be wearing a "badge of shame" and be subject to the arbitrary whim of an administrator. ... Vernonia involved a rule requiring drug testing as a condition for participation in extracurricular competitive sports. ... In Earls, the Tecumseh School District adopted a "Student Activities Drug Testing Policy" that required all students who wished …

The Ins And Outs, Stops And Starts Of Speedy Trial Rights In Colorado--Part I, H. Patrick Furman

Publications

This two-part article discusses the constitutional right to a speedy trial and the basics of the speedy trial statute.

See Part II at http://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/551/.

Editor's Observations: The Geology Of Drug Policy In 2002, Frank O. Bowman Iii

Faculty Publications

Public concern about drug abuse as a major issue in American life may be ebbing. The notion that "the drug war is a failure" has become the common wisdom in academic and journalistic circles. Support for routine and lengthy imprisonment of non-violent drug offenders may be eroding, even among the prosecutors, police, and judges whose job it is to enforce the law. Anger among African American, Latino, and other minority communities at the perceived discriminatory enforcement of drug laws is simmering and may begin to boil over in ways that effect the political terrain. And after the events of September …

Respecting Pandora's Box, Erica Beecher-Monas

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Witness Coaching By Prosecutors, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Given its controversial nature, one would expect the practice and ethics of witness coaching to have attracted close scrutiny by courts and commentators. Interestingly, however, the subject has received relatively modest attention. A handful of judicial and ethics opinions have discussed superficially the subject of witness preparation and coaching. Practitioner manuals typically offer general guidance on how to prepare witnesses, and occasionally address tactical and ethical issues involved in coaching. Scholarly commentary has examined the ethical limits of witness preparation, particularly by differentiating acceptable techniques from improper techniques, which promote false or misleading testimony. In addition, popular culture occasionally has …

Surrender Of Indictees And Non-Indicted Criminals From The United States To The Ictr, Christopher M. Rassi

War Crimes Memoranda

No abstract provided.

How Apprendi Affects Institutional Allocations Of Power, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Jury's Role In Administering Justice In The U.S. Introduction To Saint Louis Public Law Review Jury Issue, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

This introduction to the special jury issue of Saint Louis University’s Public Law Review briefly discusses the Conference “Lay Participation in the Criminal Trial in the Twenty-First Century,” in which all of the contributors to this issue participated. The conference took place at the International Institute for Higher Studies in the Criminal Sciences in Siracusa, Italy from May 25-29, 1999. It also discusses select papers and perspectives on the American jury system published in this issue of the journal.

Official Privilege: State Security And The Right To A Fair Trial In The Usa, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

The emphasis of this paper is on the effect of the state claiming a privilege of national security in a criminal case, either to: (1) prevent the defendant from gaining discovery of classified information which could be important in defending against the criminal charges; or (2) prevent the defendant from introducing classified evidence in his/her own defense, access to which has usually been gained by virtue of the defendant’s own activity with the intelligence services (CIA, FBI) or other police agencies. The state often claims national security in situations where the state itself is either dealing with criminals or using …

Informant Credibility And Evidence Of Cooperation In Other Cases, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

The prosecutor calls an informant as a witness. Her carefully prepared questions elicit in damning detail how-according to the informant-the defendant eagerly participated in the crimes charged in the indictment. On cross, defense counsel goes into full attack mode, covering the informant's prior convictions, his other unsavory and untruthful acts, and the informant's sordid reasons for cooperating with the police-money, a break on his own case, or both. To rehabilitate the informant, the prosecutor wants to elicit testimony from police officers about the many cases the informant has helped them make and how truthful he has always been in the …

Latin America's First Modern System Of Lay Participation: The Reform Of Inquisitorial Justice In Venezuela, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

This article describes the new Venezuelan jury and mixed court systems that were introduced by Codigo Organico Procesal Penal in 1998, in the context of the code’s radical transition to accusatorial and adversarial procedure.

"Business On Trial: The True Story." Review Of Business On Trial: The Civil Jury And Corporate Responsibility, Richard O. Lempert

Reviews

Jury trials are very much an affair of stories. Lawyers tell stories to juries. Evidence is more convincing when presented in story order. Jurors use stories to make sense of evidence. And litigants, particularly losing litigants, tell stories about juries. One of the favorite stories of losing business litigants, second only to the irrational jury story, is the Robin Hood story. Juries love to play Robin Hood, to steal from the rich (businesses and insurance companies) and to give to the poor (individual litigants, especially individual tort litigants). The storytellers see no mystery here. Jurors are "little guys," like the …

I Want A Black Lawyer To Represent Me: Addressing A Black Defendant's Concerns With Being Assigned A White Court-Appointed Lawyer, Kenneth P. Troccoli

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

"I want a Black lawyer to represent me." These are the first words you hear after you introduce yourself to your new client. You have been appointed to represent this man on a criminal charge. You are white. He is Black. You answer that you are an experienced criminal lawyer and will represent him to the best of your ability, regardless of his or your race. He responds that he too is experienced with the criminal justice system-a system that targets Black men, like himself, for prosecution far more than whites, that sentences Black men to prison more frequently and …